Here it comes!

[ferniesnow]

It was only a matter of time before the pressure would be put on the BC government to properly regulate and enforce the snowmobile industry.

I have said ever since I came to this marvelous province that the little yellow registration sticker and lack of enforcement regarding the registration was a joke. Why wasn't there a proper registration process with license plates (metal or plastic), insurance, and enforcement just like in most other provinces in Canada?

I also thought that is would be a good idea that with the high number of fatalities this winter and the rising number of fatallities that maybe there should be a mandatory snowmobiler's "operating course" as there is for boaters. The mandatory course should be nation wide and include avalanaches, ice, fences, night riding, preliminary safety, etc.

The registration process is easy. The insurance process is easy. The operating course is easy. All snowmobile operators in BC as well as the BC government should have these in place.

Protecting snowmobilers or diminishing the fatalities from avalanche dangers is the challenge. Do all snowmobilers in BC need an avalanache course? Is an avalanche course the ultimate answer? How do you handle the vast number of tourists?

There are a lot of BC residents riding snowmobiles that do not ride avalanche prone areas. One can argue that all of BC is avalanche country but there are many groomed trail areas that do not have avalanches and there is access to many forestry roads in the valley bottoms that do not have the dangers. The mom, pop, and kids situation (where most of us learned or taught our families) of riding to the cabin or to the lake and having a weiner roast, etc. is not a situation for a required avalanche course. Is an avalanche course mandatory for all snowmobilers? No! Is an avalanche course mandatory for snowmobilers riding the avalanche prone areas? Yes! Is an avalanche course enough to prevent fatalities? No! The debate goes on and on.....

Then where is the line and how do you enforce it? How do you enforce the thousands of tourists coming into the province? Not all the trails or accesses to the back country have trail pass vendors or "trail police" and it is not likely that that will or could happen. The logistics of that process is probably insurmountable or is it?

The process has started and we as snowmobilers can only hope that we are invited to have input.

 

[Jason LaRoy]

That will be the day when I take a safe snowmobilers course.As for the DEATHS TRIGGER CALLS TO REGULATE SNOWMOBILERS.-Yes its unfortunate so many people lost their lives sledding but realize they were doing something they loved.Also Mike Wiegele is in it for himself.He doesn't care about sledders so be aware.

 

[ZRrrr]

Hah...Wigele and friends have finally found the ammo they needed to push their personal agendas. Bet there will be a flood of applications from the heli ski operators for expansion. They look like the good guys right now since there was no mortalities during their ski trips. If just one heli skier would have died in an avy this year Mr. Wiegele would not have anything to say.

But....to all those who poo pooed the notion that the Gov would react to this years sled/avy deaths............

 

[powerteker]

makes no difference to me I'm gonna take avy course and wilderness frist aid, I'm fully insured and registered so suck that goverment.

 

[lexy]

You notice Mike Wiegele doesn't mention the skier he lost in a tree well and died while being guided by his company.????

 

[powerteker]

You notice Mike Wiegele doesn't mention the skier he lost in a tree well and died while being guided by his company.????

who is mike wiegele???

 

[lexy]

who is mike wiegele???

Mike Wiegele owns the heli skiing company in Blue River BC.

 

[my mod]

I would bet that if there was a way of doing the percentages vs fatalities,
The ratio would be a lot lower for snowmobiling vs heli skiing but how could that be calculated?

 

[ferniesnow]

That will be the day when I take a safe snowmobilers course.As for the DEATHS TRIGGER CALLS TO REGULATE SNOWMOBILERS.-Yes its unfortunate so many people lost their lives sledding but realize they were doing something they loved.Also Mike Wiegele is in it for himself.He doesn't care about sledders so be aware.

With all due respect Jason and realizing that you were "born and raised riding a sled in the mountains" this isn't about knocking the true mountain riders like yourself but goes much, much deeper than that. It is about the various agencies (Mike Wiegele Heli Skiing is one) closing down the back country whether it be for caribou, wildlife protection, Y2Y, more parks, more green, self-interests, etc., etc. The more difficult the governments make back country access the less back country users there will be. Right into the hands of Gang Green!!

The movement south of the border with 23 million acres on the verge of closing is another example.

http://www.dootalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=314586

We have to be pro-active if we want to save what we love....riding snowmobiles in the mountains

 

[Jason LaRoy]

Hey Ferniesnow I wasn't trying to come across as hard to get along with but it seems now a days there is always something or someone pointing their fingers at our sport.Frankly I for one not to mention everyone else is getting tired of everything.Its about time that all the back country users get along(not like that is going to happen).Either everyone can use the back country or no one.Once again Ferniesnow I wasn't trying to come down on your thread.

 

[Carbon]

In 03/04 there was 15+ski related fatalitys and the goverment was trying to control/shut down the back country/national parks.YA RIGHT.this yr was bad from snow conditions and they think the answer is to shut down.YA RIGHT.what happens next yr when its ice climbers,hikers,skiers again.you can't control stupid.just try to educate and learn them NO snow safety course would help anyone this yr.:d

just a bad year.

 

[kootenaycat]

Read the letter, and from what I get out of it is that particular heli-ski operator doesn't want snowmobiles on "his" tenure anytime. I'd ask if he has exclusive use on his tenure, I'm guessing not otherwise he wouldn't care what snowmobilers are doing. This is just another way of trying to ban motorized recreation from the back country, well motorized other then "their" sport which would be heli or cat skiing. Seen it before, this is nothing new.

As for the snowmobiler avalanche deaths this year, it was an anomoly. I have never heard of multiple (snowmobiler) deaths of the high number we saw in a single incident as happened this year. Though if you look on the skiing side of avalanche deaths, it was only a few years back that 2 seperate avalanche incidents took multiple skiers lives. Never heard this heli-ski operator complaining back then of regulating public skiing access into the back country.

The letter writer asks why he (heli-ski operators) must have such strict regulations and the public snowmobilers don't, well it's simple. A heli-ski operation is a money making venture using OUR crown land to profit for himself. And he's taking people's lives into his hands when he's operating his business. I'm not making any money going into the back country with my buddies and we are watching our own backs.
Kevin

 

[snochuk]

Wiegle is a scum bag who has not hesitated to use the loss of others for his personal gain. WHAT A POS!!!! HE WANTS US OUT and always has. Enough about this looser. As a group, Alberta and BC clubs need to have a spokesman to address our concerns and what will really help to reduce/control/explain why there are so many fatalities. Unfortunatly regulations and fines are going to be rushed in and I would say they will have little effect on real safety. No cure for impared driving and look at the effort put in by public and police/regulations. We do not have the large amount of funds that greenies and heli-ski companies have to loby and countinually bombarde government officials with our side of the story. BC communities will suffer the most when sledding is run out of town! Sad but it is heading that way. What we have is numbers, sledders and communities. We DO NOT work as a unified group and until we do we're screwed. I don't know how we solve this hurdle..can all S&M and Snow West members be automatically signed to patitions to protect our sport. Can BC businesses have their town conncil/citizens vote entire communities as sled friendly to force govt accetpance of our sport. Sledders will need the help of the towns we support in BC. Who will be the leader and how do we get the manufacturers to help with the funding for such a person cause he will need to be at it full time. I am going to fire up a lot of people but increased trail fees and money from fines for sled violatios will be a start. Some how we have to win.....I do not want my children blocked from the best country the world has to offer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[scotts]

well surprise,surprise..like nobody saw this comming a mile away.Weigle isnt a scumbag or POS and i doubt if he takes any personal pleasure from seeing anyone die in the hills,what he is, is a very shrewd bussines man who takes any oppertuniy available to defeat his competition.
Where he and the greens use everthing to their advantage we snowmobilers do everything we can to f#&k things up for ourselves,from constantly riding out of bounds, drinking on the hill, littering,being drunken assholes to the waitress'es in town and completely ignoring avi warnings.
I truley hope everyone enjoys your rides up areas like allen creek,boulder and frisby that will be severly reduced in riding area.That will be the comming trade off in two to four years,mark my words. There will be an absolute ban on winter motorized use in the backcountry except for very limited areas.
These plans are already in the govs agenda

 

[ferniesnow]

As far as the article or action about BC Resource Roads or Bill 30, here is an update....

Resource Road Act Pulled - Opinion 250 - News for Northern and Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada

Apparently, it has been pulled. With provincial elections and various other initiatives front and center maybe we have a reprieve.

But don't think they will forget about it.

Yes, a full time spokesperson for the motorized sector would be a good thing. How doo you get the OEM's, the clubs, and businesses to unite and see the advantage of a full time person? Who takes the "bull by the horns" and gets it done?

 

[HRT Offroad]

well surprise,surprise..like nobody saw this comming a mile away.Weigle isnt a scumbag or POS and i doubt if he takes any personal pleasure from seeing anyone die in the hills,what he is, is a very shrewd bussines man who takes any oppertuniy available to defeat his competition.
Where he and the greens use everthing to their advantage we snowmobilers do everything we can to f#&k things up for ourselves,from constantly riding out of bounds, drinking on the hill, littering,being drunken assholes to the waitress'es in town and completely ignoring avi warnings.
I truley hope everyone enjoys your rides up areas like allen creek,boulder and frisby that will be severly reduced in riding area.That will be the comming trade off in two to four years,mark my words. There will be an absolute ban on winter motorized use in the backcountry except for very limited areas.
These plans are already in the govs agenda

Wiegele is a foreigner that has come to our country to reap the benefits of our wonderful countryside. The government has bent over backwards for this SOB...even to the point of giving him his own private ski hill for when the heli's can't fly. He feels that money can buy anything, but the small town of Blue has shown him otherwise...as they can't be bought. I'm sure locals see far more local revenue from sledders then they do from Wiegele...

As previously mentioned by Lexy...he had a skier die to suffocation in a tree well this year during a guided heli ski adventure...who heard about it? Was it on the national news? And he has the nerve to bash snowmobilers...???

 

[scotts]

We are all foreigners that have come to this country to reap the benifits of this wonderfull country, he just does it better than many others.
I dont agree with what he is doing but we are the ones cutting our own throats.
I hate to shake anyone up from dreamland but money pretty much can buy anything and the people of blue river really dont matter to the powers that be. This is another case of spin doctoring to a end. it doest matter that the largest group avy fatality in canada was a group of skiers that were profesionaly guided. What matters is what is currently on the publics mind ie. skiers good, sledders bad.
If we dont change our image our sport is finished.

 

[ZRrrr]

Isn't the Blue Ribbon Coalition a spokes group for snowmobilers in the US? Maybe they wish to represent us here in Canada as well? Western Canadian Chapter?

They seem to have some political push.

BlueRibbon Coalition: Preserving your recreational access to public lands.

 

[powerteker]

[Where he and the greens use everthing to their advantage we snowmobilers do everything we can to f#&k things up for ourselves,from constantly riding out of bounds, drinking on the hill, littering,being drunken assholes to the waitress'es in town and completely ignoring avi warnings.
I truley hope everyone enjoys your rides up areas like allen creek,boulder and frisby that will be severly reduced in riding area.That will be the comming trade off in two to four years,mark my words. There will be an absolute ban on winter motorized use in the backcountry except for very limited areas.
These plans are already in the govs agenda[/QUOTE]

I agree with some of this, when I was in allen creek there was one guy up at the cabin who was to drunk to walk. his friends took his keys and left him there. Not to mention avy risk was high that day. U GUYS KNOW WHO U R give u friggen heads a shake!!! There really is to much of this going on

 

[maxwell]

yah if it wasnt for varda those cabins would be so think with bottles you couldnt walk